Long's travels excessive

Missouri's congressman should consider working closer to home

Billy Long

We are pleased that U.S. Rep. Billy Long is learning all he can about key issues by traveling around the country and the world.

We wonder, however, if those trips - eight of them over the past two years - might not be a little excessive. And we suggest that Long's constituents in southwest Missouri might think his time would be better spent working right here at home.

Long is among the top travelers in Congress. These are not trips paid for by Long or by the taxpayers. Since ethics reforms in 2007 that prevent lobbyists from footing the bill, such trips are generally paid for by charitable or educational groups - or, as in one pricey trip to Azerbaijan, private foreign business.

Long defends the time he has spent traveling. "It's important for members of Congress to travel," he said. "We make decisions about the world."

Long's world travel last year included Shanghai, Istanbul and Baku, Azerbaijan. At each destination, he attended meetings with government officials and learned about trade issues and energy policies. Nationally, he visited Las Vegas twice, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore. On all but two of the trips, he was able to take his wife with him.

On what appears to be the most luxurious of all the trips, to the capital of Azerbaijan, the couple stayed at a luxury hotel on the Caspian Sea and dined in upscale restaurants, costing a total of $13,500 - paid for by Azpod, an Azeri energy company. The trip was arranged by the Humpty Dumpty Institute, a U.S.-based organization that "forges innovative public-private partnerships to find creative solutions to difficult humanitarian problems through a serious of unique programs," according to its mission statement.

Long's was only one of 36 congressional trips made to Azerbaijan in 2013. His position on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee appears to be the magnet for many of his invitations.

It is impressive that southwest Missouri's congressman is powerful enough to be courted by foreign countries.

But Long needs to remember who sent him to Congress and turn his attention to domestic issues that impact the Ozarks.

Perhaps he could take a lesson from another powerful Missouri lawmaker, Sen. Roy Blunt. "Members that do travel need to be sure they can fully defend any outside group that's involved."

Since Long has claimed to know nothing about Azpod at all, he can't really do that. Another reason to stay home.

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Long's travels excessive

We are pleased that U.S. Rep. Billy Long is learning all he can about key issues by traveling around the country and the world.